December 27, 2011 11:32pm ESTDecember 27, 2011 8:24pm ESTBoise's loss could be everyone else's gain. A one-point loss to TCU led to the LSU-Alabama rematch in the national title game, which could lead to wholesale BCS changes in the near future.

Sporting News looks at three story lines to watch in college football in 2012:

1. The evolution of the BCS

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Please send all notes of thanks to Dan Goodale, care of the Boise State Broncos. Goodale’s missed 39-yard field goal as time expired against TCU kept the Broncos from an unbeaten season—and likely a spot in the BCS national championship game. Had the non-BCS Broncos advanced to the sport’s pinnacle, the BCS as we know it would be bulletproof.

Instead, it’s bullet-ridden.

Two teams from the same conference reached the national championship game—a finish so disturbing it has presidents and conference commissioners talking about reshaping the controversial postseason this offseason.

Up next: a “plus-one” model, where the final four teams in the BCS poll would have a mini “playoff” to determine college football’s national champion. Never mind that the inherent flaws (see: BCS points rating system, biased human and computer polls) that have dogged the system from Day 1 would still be prevalent.

Wait and see how happy Nos. 5 and 6 feel after getting shut out of the plus-one. Probably a lot like Oklahoma State this season.

2. The return of “the Game”

It’s not Bo vs. Woody, and neither coach might not last long enough for a Ten Year War. But Brady Hoke and Urban Meyer has the potential to make Michigan vs. Ohio State relevant again.

It took Hoke all of one season to get the Wolverines back into a BCS bowl and less than that to make an impact on recruiting. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who won two national championships at Florida, starts with a NCAA bowl ban in Year 1—but that means little in this heated rivalry.

They’re already stealing recruits from each other, already talking about the “Ohio” team and “that team up north.” These two get it; they understand and embrace the rivalry for what it is: a spectacle of the sport.

Meyer will quickly upgrade the talent in Columbus (not that it was lacking), and the Buckeyes’ rising sophomore quarterback, Braxton Miller, will develop into one of the best in the Big Ten. And Hoke? He has a two-year head start on Meyer (that NCAA sanction year in 2012 counts, too) and already has Michigan thinking about winning it all.

If, that is, they can beat Ohio State.

3. The new SEC

Let’s get this out of the way before we go any further: Texas A&M and Missouri have no chance of winning division titles in their first SEC season.

They will, however, play a critical role in who does.

This isn’t as much about talent or schemes as it is venue. Winning on the road in college football is hard enough. Winning on the road, in a conference game, in an environment you’ve never before experienced, is almost impossible.

It’s adjusting to new playing surfaces, to strange nuances at new facilities, to flying in and waiting all day and playing at 8 when its really 9 in your head. It’s all of that and more—because both the Aggies and Tigers have enough talent to win big games.